Apple Varieties and Value Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. With Washington’s apple crop estimated at about 124-million boxes this year, growers of all the different varieties are in a pretty good mood.
Jon DeVaney, President of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, says our most popular variety remains the same …
DeVANEY … “Gala is still the top projected variety. It has been for a couple of years now. The initial forecast is to have Granny Smith in the number two position, but that’s a later harvested variety in many districts and so we won’t know that for certain for a while.”
The former top apple, DeVaney says is still strong …
DeVANEY … “Red Delicious, though it doesn’t get as much attention, having been around so much longer, it’s still an important variety in our state. About 13% of the crop projected for that variety which is of course really important, particularly in export sales.”
Next, DeVaney says is down a bit …
DeVANEY … “We had a large Honeycrisp crop last year, and so it’s a bit smaller this year, projected to be about 12% of the crop, but still quite a lot of that very popular variety.”
And, DeVaney says another popular variety …
DeVANEY … “Of course, we continue to see growth in the Cosmic Crisp variety here in Washington state. That continues to grow and we’re looking at that to be about 9% of this year’s crop. And it continues to get good consumer response.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on this year’s Washington’s apple crop, the most valuable to our state’s agricultural economy.
